Repost

Since the olympics begin this week...  let's take a look back in time.  I wrote this many years after the event.  Was struggling to come to terms, and it isn't great, but it was the best I could do.   You be the judge.  I hate that a lot of it is still relevant.  And damn starry eyed idealists who can't play dirty enough to make it work.

AND EVERYONE CRYING 'CHANGE!'



In the narrow corridor

Between Forum and Chapel

The atheletes are milling about.

It's an open Bazaar

Where the West meets the East.

(or is it perhaps

a miniature Big Apple??)

The reporters write for the evening news,

That here is a love feast

Where humanity is spoken

But to me it is Babel:

And behind their smiles

I see thirty-two tooth salutes of contempt..

They trade national tokens

When their training is over

And the August sun is on the wane.

And everyone's crying 'Change!



Some of their stick-pins are, of course

More in demand---

Depending on reknown and supply-

(For who wants a Poland

When one can acquire

A token of Russia---

or Japan, by and by?)

The Olympic ideal does not exclude

the desire for personal prestige and fame.

And so here the capitalist ethic reigns,

And everyone's crying 'Change!'



Most stay in their groups;

They're like gaggles of geese

And they casually size up their opponents.

The Belgians won't speak with the Germans,

And the French look down with noblesse oblige

On the rest of this city's components.

And the Indians are wary of the Pakistanis.

The Nigerians hate the Rhodesians....

Still, they are anxious to trade

So they swallow

Their pride and political allegiance.

The friendliest are from the smallest countries;

From barely visible dots on the atlas.

They compete with the best and have no face to lose.

And their names tie the tongue, are exceedingly strange...

And EVERYONE'S crying 'Change!'



And we watch them, amused....

We foreign 'guest workers'

Try not to compete, but try

To understand what we're all about,

To conquer the predjudices

Our leaders have taught us

And try to discover their lies.



(We find sinister reasons for political deeds.

Can most of them be really due

To something so mundane as greed?)

We grow national guilts for the actions of others,

Attempt to solve problems,

And the grounds our talks cover

Range from politics to jokes,

to religion and pollution.....

And we can only agree that our world is insane.

And everyone's crying 'Change'



CHANGE cry disillusioned Americans

as George Meany offers millions to dump George McGovern.



Change! cry the Irish

who are weary of blood-shed, still demand to be self-governed.



Change! cry Rhodesia's majority blacks,

while their whites promenade and acknowledge no guilt.



Change! cry the Greeks

who have lost their Democracy,

and blame the American military bloc.



Change! cry the people of the Middle East

While the world sits in judgement

To the ticking of a nuclear clock.



Change! cry the people trapped in the suburbs,

in anonymous houses, sleazily built.



Change! cry defenders of the Earth's environment,

while in factory accidents, their neighbors are killed.



Change! cry the starving and the world's minorities,

who live on hate, while others grow fat.



Change! cry the young, as they champ at the bit,

while the Establishment sees they're held back.



Change! cry the conservatives who want power and control,

and tremble at thought of a reverse in the order of things.



Change! cry the liberals who shout out for justice

So all have a chance to grasp the brass ring.

Yes!, they shout, Change!



On the day of departure

the action is frenzied,

and the shouting reaches fever pitch,

trading sneakers and track suits,

And their laughter and smiles

no longer seem stretched,

are real, and their owners fit.

Competition is over,

and now they are grinning,

no longer concerned

with who will be winning.

Koreans wear Russian warm-up pants;

Belgians wear French warm-up jackets.



We smile and fight down the urge to gloat,

For we long know what they're finding out,

Have the experience and memories to back it.



The September wind blows yesterday's news

Through the passage-way. Then it rains.

And the athletes take refuge in the Chapel's pews

To a dying last echo of 'Change'



Change! For the world is shrinking fast,

On yourself you can no longer rely.



Change! And drop tribal habits at last....

Or like the dinasaurs.... We WILL die...

Will the US become Michigan? You decide.

She's been really on this. And very well worth paying attention to. Facism at work there.

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She forgot a mandatory prostate exam with a gloved digit...

But oh yeah, they should really go there. And while they are at it... masturbation should qualify as mass murder.... all those little squiggly things that might have been chirren. Gawwwwd.. it's awful to think about. Why, it could qualify as genocide, and half the world's population would be qualified to end up before the world court in the Hague. And you could have a generation of teen-aged boys having to wear spotted sheets of shame to school with mass murderer written on them in red lipstick, oh, the possibilities are endless. But I like that lady in ohio.

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And oh yes... I deliberately didn't go into

the asshole with vp aspirations who thinks transvaginal ultrasounds are necessary for women who want a 'procedure'

For a party who wants to take gubmit out of people's lives... why are they doing the opposite?

It's state sanctioned rape.

Boy, I have a mess to say right now....

Where to start, where to start.

I haven't neglected keeping up with news, either there nor here. But I don't see the sense in going from one hyperventilating cause of outrage to another without pause, or without having an antidote, other than to get involved in things directly through petitions, and giving your pennies to whomever you think can dig 'Murka out of the hole it dug for itself, and messed up half the world in the process.

But the THING IS... what happens there doesn't STAY there, and I sure as hell wish it would.

So let's see, on the repub side, you have a disney animatronics figure with faulty wiring and a weak battery that makes him stammer all over the place and look embarassed. And a wannabe disgusting guy who is out only for financial gain, and a real, dyed in the wool, bible-thumping, ASSinine religious zealot who would like to take the clown car in full throttle forward toward a cliff, and the gear shift is broken, and there's no reverse on the damned thing. They sure have them some 'swell' choices.

Things have come up in this cycle that I thought were dead and solved a half century ago. But hey, Sanatorium coming up and saying he wanted to puke over JFK's presser about separation of church and state? I REMEBERED that speech as if it were yesterday. I was 11 years old, but my family was catholic, and that was a very big deal and concern, the wasps thinking 'da pope' would control him somehow. I remembered that speech when they began playing excerpts in light of what mr. 'Sanatorium' was saying. And then they reported that the JFK speech was 51 years ago, and I said to myself, 'Oh, Ren... you've gotten oooooollllllld.

Then going after women, because that is what bullies and guys who are sexually frustrated and have no---NO--clue as to what women are like DO and they go after them because they think they are an easy target. And these ASSHOLES get onto contraception issues, out of the blue, hey... Except we thought THAT was settled 51 years ago. Leaving aside that some men still consider women as possessions or chattel, and the word trophy wife is so telling, don'tcha think?... leaving that aside, that wasn't even the real purpose of all the uproar. They hate health care and are using it as a wedge issue so that insurance companies can continue to screw the public, see the so-called Blunt ammendment. If I as an employer am not a believer in medicine, cancer treatments won't be part of the insurance package I offer. That's what they really want.

Just when you think progress of some sort was made. And attacking a college student, boy, ya gotta hand 'the Rush' a trophy. Here's a guy who was married four times, sired no children...(that anyone KNOWS of)... and he goes on thinking that women have to take a birth control pill every time they have sex, so the student is a ´rapacious slut? He HAS to know better, and it was vicious, and so typical of bully behaviour, and in the end, laughable... except a lot of people aren't very well edumacated in 'Murka these days. And the woman's testimony wasn't ABOUT that. It was about the fact that women take the pill for other reasons, like preventing ovarian cysts. But hey it's an agenda, so drag an innocent woman through the mud, why not, she's 'only' a woman, after all and that is how that bastard thinks. And the real rethugs kiss his ass and perform unmentionable lower intestinal acrobatics on him to make him feel reaaaalllll good.

And hokay, how does this look here? We got us an AUSTERITY package, how loverly. And the focus on pensioners and federal employees, not good, but it could have been worse. Except now, of a sudden, well, another major bank needs a bail-out and guess who's on the paying end? Uh-huh. It's a daily case of dejà vu.

What concerns me far more is what is coming out of the mouthpieces of the parties here about a rise in drop outs in the schools, and 'playing lots of hooky'. Alarums went off in what is left of my mind. Because, you see, the conservative party thinks it would be a useful thing to fine parents of children who play hooky.

Reallah... really? IF we are gonna haveta go there... I seem to remember a time when things in 'Murka weren't so good for kids in poor neighborhoods, and I went to a grade school in the poorest part of the city. You got caught playing hooky? You got sent to a juvenile detention center, and boy howdy, those institutions created a whole generation of petty criminals. The only way to keep peace in that grade school was for the principal to beat up the sixteen year old seventh grade students once a week in front of his office winder during recess, to intimidate the rest of the students. And there were knives, and one teacher got thrown down a flight of stairs and broke her leg, it was terrific, and didn't learn much of anything there other than to survive from one day to another, but thank whomever I read non-stop. Every single one of us were expected to fail. Every one of us. Let's face it, it's real class warfare... keeping the plebes in their place, and it was anything but pleasant. Now it seems subtle.. seems.

So that was also fifty years ago, so what? Except I saw an interview with a mother on one of the msnbc shows last week that I would have killed to keep for this, and can't find it. There's this school called noble school in one of the poorest parts of chicago. And it's the only hope for those kids. But they fine parents when the kids break the rules, and whoa, they are successful. They are so successful, they collected nearly half a million dollars in fines in a two year period. From the parents in the poorest part of the city. And they coughed it up, because if they didn't... there was no other school for their kids to go to. Simple as that.

Transgressions leading to fines? Untied shoelaces. A button not buttoned on a shirt. Not sitting up straight and tracking the teacher continuously, falling asleep in detention.

WHAT the hell has any of that have to do with education? And Rahm Emanuel thinks it's a great program? What was he looking at?` The fine intake?

It's keep em down, keep em in their place. So let's take a closer look at here. The socialists think it's a bad idea to fine the parents of kids who play hooky, the freepers are for it, of course, greens against, and the unmentionables... don't count... so far.

And I was on-line, and asked about it in my guild. We are only about seven people aged late thiry to my age. So sorta adult. And I wanted to know if they had those fines in germany, and they do. One said it was just another scheme to get money from people who are already so strapped by their austerity program. And I asked who gets the brunt of the fines? Not hard to guess, preciousses... the poor and the newly emigrated families. Just keep em in their place, hey. It was an interesting discussion.

If the children of immigrants aren't doing well, it's because their system is failing, as it is failing here. Ours fails them, they are trying to find a solution. And the Germans? Turn a blind eye, seemingly, but I might be wrong. I haven't looked into their 'troubles' so much, so that is only a supposition.
---
But if you take that to the extreme, you get what you recently had in chicago... I think it was... where a mother gets jail time for drugs... not the serious kind... and a sixteen THOUSAND dollar fine, BECAUSE... she enrolled her son in a school in a better district so he would have a better chance, and that was 'stealing' from the taxpayers.... a public school, hey, who did she steal from, huh?

This bothers me in the extreme... our schools are very good. When they graduate from 'high school' it is the equivalent of two years of college over there. And this shit shouldn't be happening, but leave it to the catholic conservatives... they are really a pain in the ass and mules with blinkers on.

This all seems somewhat surreal to me... as in getting the feeling, 'I've been here before, why am I back in this nightmare?'

I'm not so happy with the other side there either on some issues, but goodness... as Mittens would say... at least they act like they are adults.

One last thing... if anyone tells you that they are for 'enhanced interrogation' I saw a documentary on tee-vee the other night about Hitler taking over Austria. And you know what? That is when the SS decided to use, 'strengthened' vulgo 'enhanced' interrogation, right here. and that was their euphemism for it, and people died horribly. So I think I would ask such promoters of that why they would ever want to associate themselves with people so heinous, because that is what they do when they say they are for it.

What you don't know about the Dutch...

And Rick.... belongs in a Sanatorium.

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Today began with me getting riled... when I saw yesterday's news.

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Y'know... I think it's been about fifty years since 'da pill' became available, and I was young, and I remember people discussing it in whispers. As if it were shameful, and a moral dilemma. I thought that had been long resolved. And half a century later, WHAAAAA? Have the Rethugs become so desperate, all they have is going after women? And that aspirin crack... left me ab-so-lute-ly spitless, but hey, that's the fossil billionaire singlehandedly backing Rick Sanatorium... or whatever the hell his name is.

This is another case of Rethugs yelling about government interference in people's lives, but what they do when they get any power is REALLY interfere in people's personal lives and want to dictate morally what they cannot do, while gleefully doing it themselves. And have the government invade your most private parts literally by mandate. The hypocrisy is astounding.

And then the odious Daryll Issa held a congressional hearing about women's health issues... all because they don't like the compromise Obama reached, and whaddaya know... there were only men invited to speak.... as if they know anything about it. That's when I started yelling at the pc screen, Preciousses. All this was between four and seven in the morning, and my cigarettes were out, so I went over to get some, steamed.

And told my tobacconist what had gotten me riled. We had quite a discussion. Me: 'No MAN should ever have the responsibility of decision making regarding women's health.' And one of her better ones... 'They should turn the tables, and have men undergo humiliating exams...' I said, 'well they tried it in Texas... mandatory prostate exams... but it didn't pass, because most of the legislature were men.' She beamed about that news, believe me. It was the first time she ever wished me a nice weekend when I left. Which was the nice part of the day.

Maybe I made her day. The news didn't make mine by a long shot.

Here's an interesting mix.... local folk meets rock, and protest in the lyrics

The occupy movement meets Tirol.

The text: Where is the place, where the devil bears its' children?
where is the place where eveything comes together?
Where is the fire, hey, where is lightning striking now?
Where is the cabin, which barn is burning down... (straw on fire)
Everyone knows that money doesn't grow in the fields.
And you can't eat it, but it burns very well. (in this case double meaning... burn=spend)
But we're burning up the wheat and the beets and the corn, (wasting it)
And if we keep going on, it will be too late. (colloquialism, your hat will burn).

There's more about people stealing money, and they should go to the devil. It's really difficult dialect.

Art imitates life. The artist is Hubert von Goisern. nearly forgot to prop him.

Da Ven... was asking me about the SOTU address...

To tell the truth, have been putting it off, because I had to digest that. Did I see it, he wished to know. Yes, I certainly did. Not that it normally means much. Congress never does what is proposed anyway.

He had a wonderful time watching the Rethugs sitting on their hands with sour faces, and I have the sneaking suspicion he wasn't eating popcorn. He probably had ice cream to go with it.

At first I thought it was just me, but I was listening and watching carefully. Although brilliantly executed, I had some trouble with some of it, especially the bending over to the gas people and saying they would go on with fracking, and opening even more oil drilling. Boy, he played both sides of the fence on the issue, and did it masterfully.

He was still trying for consensus, and managed to put the emphasis in the assertive tone to deflect the fact that he is still 'comprimising'. I don't think there is room for that. None of what he proposed is going to be worked on anyway, the Rethugs wouldn't even consider it.

So yeah, nice speech. Horrible faces in the crowd... looked like a messed up clown car in parts.

Some of the ideas were good... but bottom line? Show business.

New Hampshire what the hell happened?

Unsettling news from Rachel.... it begins at 3:33

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Pointless question of the day

The president of Greece is begging for monetary help by March, or the country will be kicked out of the EU.

And telling his people they have to buckle down.

Uh-huh....

I have a suggestion for him. Why doesn't he sue Goldman Sachs for defrauding his country to the point of bankruptcy, and want to know... why aren't the people who bought the worthless bonds and sent them there in jail?

I could ask the same about the US and those on Wall Street, but ... yeah, pointless.

Seeds of acquiesence.......

Just had a flash-back.... shortly after arriving in my new home...

So way, waay back.

And there was one of the greatest chancellors and governments EVAH. Socialists, oooooooo...

And shortly after I arrived, there was excitement in the familiy I was staying with till I got on my feet and found my way to a job and a singular existence. Because, you see, the new government had made a law that all school books were to be distributed free of charge. This would alleviate inequality, Because, you see, till then everyone had to buy them for their children, they were expensive, and the not so wealthy bought used ones, which led to discrimination in school classes, and everyone knew who was 'poor'. Among other things.

And the whole family was around the table discussing it, what a sudden boon it was, and allevieating their budgets.

I thought it was very good news... and disconcerted that until then, they'd had to buy books at all, because we'd never had to until college level. And then hoo-boy, the prices for some extremely dry tomes were sky-high, even in the 60's.

Well, there were seeds of rebellion in me even then. And a tendency to put my foot in my mouf.

And I said, 'T'hat's wonderful news, but is gonna cost the government a real fortune. So why are they giving the children of wealthy people free books? They can afford them.'

They were bloody scandalised. Oh no, they said, you can't do that... it would ruin it for the rest of us.

And that is the seed... someone gives you a break in one respect, you let them walk all over you in others, and be thankful for whatcha get, hey.

At the time, I lived in another part of the city, would pick up the International Herold Tribune on the way to work, which had ten pages, and was mostly stock market listings, but Art Buchwald and a few other things lasted me till I got to work. And one article that was so libellous regarding my city, I went to a person I knew, press secretary of the worker's guild, and said, 'You have to DO something.' Turned out to be a disgruntled opera singer from 'Murka, hubby was a journalist, she wasn't getting the roles she wanted, so he did a hatchet job in a paper that is read daily by all ex-pats in Europe. She got fired, and his career was over. Good so.

Sorry, sidebar there... The tobacconist used to rant and rail about the government and all of the parties, and especially about the local mentality.... 'Obrigkeitshörigkeit.' Kow-towing or bowing and scraping to the powers that be, loosely translated.

And that reaction to my suggestion? Was Obrigkeitshörigkeit. (Doesn't German have some lovely long words, hey...)

I'm wondering... when is the Occupy idea finally gonna take hold here, while something can really be DONE that is constructive.... Tja.

Ummmmmm.. Rick Sanatorium? Really?

and I call him that because he belongs in one... good gawwd... the guy is certifiable and has some sort of trauma regarding gays, and his propagating endlessly, and his weirdness... he needs some professional help.

And his professional ethics were bad enough for him to lose his senate seat.

Iowa? On my never visit list. They are bat-shit crazy.

And Romney? I don't know if it is just me, but have you ever really listened to him? I mean, really listened? That stacatto, that uncertainty, the backpeddling talking fast and nearly incoherent? Reminds me of a kid having been caught doing something he shouldn't have.

Well... am keeping one new year's resoluton...

in that I listen to more local news on the radio... and have to open my eyes very wide at what is going on.....

More on that in a minute.

The Hungarians have seemingly gotten what would be most likely one of Rick Snyder's wet dreams... what he intstituted as governor of Michigan got enacted for the entire country of Hungary. And that in their constitution, yet!

Snyder overrides city elected officials by appointing robber barons.... errrm... 'emergency managers' for cities that aren't doing well. Or for cities that have public lands rich people want to build on but were gifts to the city for everyone to use 'in perpetuity'... which no longer means forever, seemingly.

So uhhhh... these robber barons... errm... emergency managers... go in to a city they target... which will most likely lean to voting for democrats, and they basically shut out the elected officials, and act on whatever their munificent benefactors wish. And the officials like the mayor and city council who were ELECTED, remain as such in name only, have no say in any matter, and are virtually powerless.

So what's that do do with Hungary? Well they had elections, and an extreme right party got the majority in parliament, and the chancellor, so they did a Scott Walker, and overnight, slipped a provision into the constitution installing a new sort of official. And HIS duty is... he can veto anything the parliament passes if the powers that be don't like it. After a democratic passing of any bill... the guy can nix it.

Same principle, Preciousses.

Although far worse, actually... it's taking Snyder's ruse to a new level.

So for the New Year on the first, tens of thousands of Hungarians arose to protest in Budapest, and are outraged.

I've seen no local headlines, have no tee-vee, but there was one good ten minute coverage of it on our most reputable radio station, and I thought, 'Whoa!'

I mean, they're our next door neighbors, one of them...

The Socialists refuse to bargain with the conservatives, who are in the minority and whining about it... much like the rethugs.

And the conservatives? Well they got them some big idears, all right. Wanting to go after the unions, who are strong, much in the way it started in the US, and I KNOW they take their playbook from over there. Right now it's , 'well they're gonna have to sacrifice something too.'

Unemployment is lowest in the EU... 4.6 %. Which is good.

And the progressives came up with an idear.... we all get 14 salaries a year. Two in June for vacation time, and two at the beginning of December, for the horridays. I know I'm not alone in saying it would have been better to just distribute that throughout the year with better salaries, but people sort of depend on those two 'windfalls', so the monthly earnings were lower. They always win in the end, hey...

The progressives would like to eliminate the two extra salaries for the topmost income bracket... after all, they are wealthy, so it isn't as if they NEED it, right?

The conservatives reaction was the personification of indignance. But hey, the public workers, and unions? They can sacrifice something, ya know?

Sound FAMILIAR?

I've always said, whatever crap idear the rethugs there have, it finds it's way here in a heartbeat. That's why they are called international conglomerates, they pipe them the tune to sing.

Otherwise, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Lots of injuries to young people via fireworks... and one kid misjudged the time, or it was defective and got him in the head. And he died. 18 years old, and this is why I've always thought the damned things should be banned for personal use, but, hey they make millions and millions on em.

A former minister is involved in a scandal... laundering money and tax evasion for starters which evinced a yawn from me. What else is new, hey?

Last night a four family house caught fire in Melk... but the firemen had to wait for a herpetologist before they could go in to fight it... because, you see, one of the tenants told them there was a terrarium full of venomous vipers in the basement, where it started. And snake man had to round them up before they could do their job. There were seven of them and the largest was five feet long. ewww Snakes in the Cellar!, hey.

Another guy in Vienna turned on the gas in a four-party house on New Years Eve... supposedly a suicide attempt and he sorta made sure everyone else was out. It blew up. Reason? His girlfriend had dumped him. That he made three families homeless? Na ja...

I 'think' he died... not sure, but if not, he should have.

So... we're four days into the New Year, and everyone was 'oh, it's such a time of optimism', to which I shocked them and replied 'Bullshit'. And yeah, all the bills to be adjusted are coming in, and of course you pay more for everything. As if that were new. What I did not like was the tone when the radio told me us pensioners are gonna get about thirty euros more a month. Sort of whadda we need it for anyway snark, and its LOTS.. uh-huh.

Well my rent just went up thirty-FIVE, so what, I'm supposed to do a Snoopy dance, or something? Because it's only five???? And won't even discuss how the heating cost rose. Oh yeah, lots to be optimistic about. Peter will get more gaga, and I really can't think how anything would make me look on the bright side at present.

So... that's a widening of the news front, but as you see... what happens there is happening here as well, as long as the politicians can get away with it. I usually listen in the morning ´while slaughtering orks, and shaking my head lots. If anyone were to see me from outside, they'd think I have Parkinson's.

New Orwellian things you will be hearing....

Frank Luntz is despicable.... brilliant, but despicable...

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Ed really can rant.... love him...

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Am gonna have a turkey leg... ooooo And laughing

over Ed going after 'the Mittster'....

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And Lawrence O'Donnell on the ninth Commandment... fun. I love it when he gets riled. And the end of the clip is just great....

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#

Hopefully the turkey is done soon.... before I lose my appetite.

You could fall in love with this woman....

Wonderful lady. Generation gap my ass!

Nice Rant....

Bloomberg? Oy...

Generational Wedge?

Spent a weekend mostly with 'zocken'... playing. My on-line game programmers called it a double 'event'. Two days of getting 50% more points on everything. Plus they held two free-range 'battles'. I didn't try the latter, my characters are still too low-level, but I did get them to advance two each, which is nice. Yay for the knight and the conjuror.... and so on.

But Sunday I did take a break to watch Saturday's broadcast of UP, with Chris Hayes. He came up with a stunning 'story of the week'. You can see it here. He describes how über-conservatives, who desperately want to dismantle social security, medicaid, and medicare are sneakily trying to disaffect the young twenty-to-thirty somethings and woo the so-called elderly 55 and up by telling the latter they needn't worry, because they are going to get their benefits, but they have to make changes hey 'to save the grandchildren'. And the young 2o-30 somethings? Well hey, they are gonna have to re-think their futures... As the unemployment rate in that age group is somewhere between 20-23%, depending on which poll you hear, the ploy is a dangerous wedge aimed at getting generations at loggerheads with and resenting one another.

And it's being done so slyly, so underhandedly, am willing to bet that the Rethugs behind it would be incensed if confronted with what they are doing, and indignantly deny all such claims. It was something 'out there', but I'd never seen it in that light before.

The ensuing discussion still has me sort of upset inside, although it was an excellent discussion. I especially like that his guests are mostly 'new' faces from the publishing world and government, and not the fatuous faces full of self-importance you see everywhere else. And most of them have a lot of interesting things to say.

Whoever has a Tivo should tape it, as he's only on at gawwd-awful early morning hours. Or tune in per internet.

And oh yeah... I think my dragon is turning black. Which pleased me.